Location

Please note this event is different to the London and Edinburgh Highlights of the Life Conference 2012 programme.

Why attend?

The Actuarial Profession is holding this one day seminar to showcase the highlights of the Life conference 2012. As you can see from the line-up below, the seminar will cover topical regulatory and business strategy issues. There will also be talks on innovative ways of understanding and delivering the social benefits of life insurance.

This seminar is primarily targeted at qualified life actuaries who were unable to attend the conference in Brussels or who did not attend all their preferred sessions whilst at the conference.

Any bookings made on or after 6 March will have to pay a £50 late booking fee. Any cancellations made after the 3 March will not receive a refund. If a cancellation is made prior to these dates a refund will be offered minus a 20% admin fee.

Free Conflicts of Interest Events: The Conflicts of Interest Working Party will be holding interactive sessions on the new conflicts of interest package in Autumn/Winter 2012 across the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands. Members from the Working Party will be the presenters at each event.

The event structure will be a short presentation on the conflicts package followed by 45 minutes of facilitated case study examples, with participants being divided into small groups, which is then followed by a Q&A session. We have taken on board our members’ feedback that geographical areas should be particularly focussed on specific practice areas so we have tried to divide the sessions into specific practice area focuses depending on where the session is to be held.

In the meantime, if you have any feedback about the conflicts package or have any case studies you think might form the basis for group discussions in the new professional skills courses in 2013 which are going to focus on conflicts, please send your comments and thoughts to conflicts@actuaries.org.uk

Location

The presentation will be given by the Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) and the University of Manchester.

Why attend?

Linear algebra is an important part of many actuarial calculations. But the standard textbook formulae do not always provide the best way to carry out computations with large or ill conditioned matrices. Moreover, when computations are carried out in finite precision arithmetic, and when the data has large uncertainties, the computed results are not always satisfactory. In the worst cases poor results can be obtained without any indication that something has gone wrong.

John Holden will talk briefly about:

Numerical software and tools for the actuarial community

NAG and its collaboration with the University of Manchester

Professor Nicholas Higham will deliver the keynote talk. He will discuss three topics:

How to compute the nearest correlation matrix to an "almost correlation matrix", one having some small negative eigenvalues due to incomplete underlying data.

Why matrix inversion can and should usually be avoided.

How to compute a p'th root of a matrix for some positive integer p. with particular attention to stochastic matrices.

Who should attend?

The seminar is aimed at actuaries, whose roles include a major component of developing, supervising or using numerical and statistical software within or outside the Financial Services industry.

Location

A paper authored by Malcolm Kemp and Padraic O’Malley. Supported by the Life Practice Executive Committee and the Life Research Committee. The paper can be downloaded from the IMF website.

Please book to guarantee your place, bookings will open shortly.

Meet the authors: 16:30 - 17:00

Registration: 17:00 - 17:30

Programme: 17:30 - 19:00

Drinks reception: 19:00 - 20:00

Please note, that as a result of member feedback, we will be trialling a new ‘enhanced networking initiative’ at this sessional research meeting.

The purpose of this initiative is to improve integration and networking among members, with particular focus on making those who are newly qualified or new to events, feel encouraged to approach more experienced members and become integrated into the actuarial community.

At each meeting, members who have particular experience in the topic area or those who are happy to be approached by new members and share their experience will be asked to wear a yellow ribbon on their name badge.

We would invite all those members who are happy to wear a yellow ribbon on their name badge to signal that they encourage any member to approach them and ask questions about the sessional meeting, chat or even just to introduce themselves to get in touch with Event Management.

Location

Modelling the realistic behaviour of the yield curve is an integral part of any capital model. This talk will explore the key considerations related to this area. We shall cover standard techniques familiar to many actuaries, and also some more innovative approaches.

Location

Free Conflicts of Interest Events: The Conflicts of Interest Working Party will be holding interactive sessions on the new conflicts of interest package in Autumn/Winter 2012 across the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands. Members from the Working Party will be the presenters at each event.

The event structure will be a short presentation on the conflicts package followed by 45 minutes of facilitated case study examples, with participants being divided into small groups, which is then followed by a Q&A session. We have taken on board our members’ feedback that geographical areas should be particularly focussed on specific practice areas so we have tried to divide the sessions into specific practice area focuses depending on where the session is to be held.

In the meantime, if you have any feedback about the conflicts package or have any case studies you think might form the basis for group discussions in the new professional skills courses in 2013 which are going to focus on conflicts, please send your comments and thoughts to conflicts@actuaries.org.uk

Location

Please note this event is different to the London and Edinburgh Highlights of the Life Conference 2012 programme.

Why attend?

The Actuarial Profession is holding this one day seminar to showcase the highlights of the Life conference 2012. As you can see from the line-up below, the seminar will cover topical regulatory and business strategy issues. There will also be talks on innovative ways of understanding and delivering the social benefits of life insurance.

This seminar is primarily targeted at qualified life actuaries who were unable to attend the conference in Brussels or who did not attend all their preferred sessions whilst at the conference.

Any bookings made on or after 3 April will have to pay a £50 late booking fee. Any cancellations made after the 3 April will not receive a refund. If a cancellation is made prior to these dates a refund will be offered minus a 20% admin fee.

Location

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries appreciate the added value our speakers make to Conferences and events. The skill of presenting is an art form and something everyone can further develop both through practice and training. We understand the time and commitment speakers give. As a thank you we would like to invite you to attend a workshop to help hone your presentation skills.

Location

A paper by Ralph Frankland (chair) and other members of the Extreme Events working party.

The Extreme Events working party will present an afternoon workshop followed by a formal sessional meeting.

Please book to guarantee your place at the workshop and to secure a place at the sessional meeting.

The Programme

Workshop Session:

13:30 - 15:00 Session I: Errors in proxy models

Section 5 of the paper gives numerical examples of the use of proxy models, that is, approximate formulas for assets and liabilities which are quicker and easier to calculate than full models. This workshop shows in detail how these examples were constructed, based on the Excel spreadsheets the working party has developed, which will be distributed electronically to delegates.

Delegates explore:

- How to construct proxy models of bonds, annuities, term assurance and investment guarantees, fitted to stress tests

Section 4 of the paper shows ways of allowing for uncertainty in models and parameters. The second half of the workshop shows applications of these tools using the spreadsheets which the working party developed. The presentation explores:

- Frequentist definitions of interval size, bias and efficiency

- Algorithms for interval construction using Monte Carlo construction

- Computation of percentile estimates based on method of moments, probability weighted moments and maximum likelihood

- Understanding why different methods produce different answers and understanding the attributes of data sets for which the differences are largest.

To gain maximum benefit from the workshop, delegates should bring their own laptops and upload the sample spreadsheets provided in advance. Please ensure you have at least two hours of battery life. The models in Session II use VBA macros so please ensure your security settings allow macros.

Sessional Meeting:

16:30 - 17:00 Meet the Authors

17:00 - 17:30 Registration

17:30 - 19:00 Sessional meeting

19:00 - 20:00 Drinks reception

Please note, that as a result of member feedback, we will be trialling a new ‘enhanced networking initiative’ at this sessional research meeting.

The purpose of this initiative is to improve integration and networking among members, with particular focus on making those who are newly qualified or new to events, feel encouraged to approach more experienced members and become integrated into the actuarial community.

At each meeting, members who have particular experience in the topic area or those who are happy to be approached by new members and share their experience will be asked to wear a yellow ribbon on their name badge.

We would invite all those members who are happy to wear a yellow ribbon on their name badge to signal that they encourage any member to approach them and ask questions about the sessional meeting, chat or even just to introduce themselves to get in touch with Event Management.

Location

The Committee on Public Service and Demographic Change was appointed on 29 May 2012, to consider public service provision in the light of demographic change. During its evidence sessions it heard from a wide range of different stakeholders, government officials and government Ministers. The Committee, which is chaired by Lord Filkin, has just lauched its report today, 14 March, and makes a number of recommendations relating to the challenges of the changing demographics.

We are delighted that Lord Filkin will present the findings of the report at the Actuarial Profession on 23rd April. The report is likely to be wide ranging as evidence sessions have focused on a broad range of topics, from demography through to pension reform, working longer and changing aspirations of old age. The report is likely to attract significant media attention and interest.

This event is supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Programme timings:

16.00-16.30
Registration

16.30-16.35
Welcome

16.35-17.15

Presentation

Lord Filkin, Chair, The House of Lords Public Service and Demographic Change Committee

17:15-18:25

Panel Discussion/Q&A

Justin Russell, Director - Ageing Society and State Pensions, Department for Work and Pensions

Location

Free Conflicts of Interest Events: The Conflicts of Interest Working Party will be holding interactive sessions on the new conflicts of interest package in Autumn/Winter 2012 across the UK, Ireland and the Channel Islands. Members from the Working Party will be the presenters at each event.

The event structure will be a short presentation on the conflicts package followed by 45 minutes of facilitated case study examples, with participants being divided into small groups, which is then followed by a Q&A session. We have taken on board our members’ feedback that geographical areas should be particularly focussed on specific practice areas so we have tried to divide the sessions into specific practice area focuses depending on where the session is to be held.

In the meantime, if you have any feedback about the conflicts package or have any case studies you think might form the basis for group discussions in the new professional skills courses in 2013 which are going to focus on conflicts, please send your comments and thoughts to conflicts@actuaries.org.uk

Location

Over the past year, we have been developing a proposed new Certified Actuarial Analyst membership category and qualification for the profession (please note this is a working title). This is aimed primarily at those working with actuaries in support roles who could benefit from some technical actuarial knowledge, but who do not require the full skill set associated with being an actuary. The proposal would help to professionalise support roles by bringing those undertaking such roles within our regulatory framework. It is part of the Education strand of the IFoA’s strategy.

We are currently conducting an information sharing exercise and invite you to attend a session, hosted by our Chief Executive and Director of Education, to find out more about this proposal. After a presentation about the proposed membership category and qualification, attendees will be invited to ask questions and contribute to the discussion.For those who are unable to attend one of these sessions there is also a detailed outline of the proposals and a survey on the website to allow members to share their views.

Location

Over the past year, we have been developing a proposed new Certified Actuarial Analyst membership category and qualification for the profession (please note this is a working title). This is aimed primarily at those working with actuaries in support roles who could benefit from some technical actuarial knowledge, but who do not require the full skill set associated with being an actuary. The proposal would help to professionalise support roles by bringing those undertaking such roles within our regulatory framework. It is part of the Education strand of the IFoA’s strategy.

We are currently conducting an information sharing exercise and invite you to attend a session, hosted by our Chief Executive and Director of Education, to find out more about this proposal. After a presentation about the proposed membership category and qualification, attendees will be invited to ask questions and contribute to the discussion.

Location

Over the past year, we have been developing a proposed new Certified Actuarial Analyst membership category and qualification for the profession (please note this is a working title). This is aimed primarily at those working with actuaries in support roles who could benefit from some technical actuarial knowledge, but who do not require the full skill set associated with being an actuary. The proposal would help to professionalise support roles by bringing those undertaking such roles within our regulatory framework. It is part of the Education strand of the IFoA’s strategy.

We are currently conducting an information sharing exercise and invite you to attend a session, hosted by our Chief Executive and Director of Education, to find out more about this proposal. After a presentation about the proposed membership category and qualification, attendees will be invited to ask questions and contribute to the discussion.